Staff Fantasy Basketball Draft Recap: Analysis of Our 12-Team Head-to-Head League
Round 10
| Pick | Overall | Player | Position | Writer |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 109 | Danny Green | SG/SF | Sam Hauss |
| 2 | 110 | Channing Frye | PF/C | Brandon Gdula |
| 3 | 111 | Elfrid Payton | PG | Galin Dragiev |
| 4 | 112 | Taj Gibson | PF/C | Brett Oswalt |
| 5 | 113 | Mario Chalmers | PG | Daniel Lindsey |
| 6 | 114 | J.R. Smith | SG/SF | Mike Comerford |
| 7 | 115 | Amir Johnson | PF/C | Russell Peddle |
| 8 | 116 | Arron Afflalo | SG/SF | Kyle Stanzel |
| 9 | 117 | Darren Collison | PG | Bryan Mears |
| 10 | 118 | Jeremy Lin | PG/SG | Brett Weisband |
| 11 | 119 | Tristan Thompson | PF/C | Shae Cronin |
| 12 | 120 | Draymond Green | SF | Mike Hurley |
This is the last of the "starter" rounds, so we're getting into the territory where some of these picks could end up on waiver wires at some point this year. Even so, there were some solid picks in the bunch.
Sam Hauss was clearly following our rankings like gospel and came away with a team full of interesting sleeper picks. Enter Danny Green as yet another one at 109. People have a fear for Spurs players getting "Popped", but Green is Gregg Popovich's workhorse and gives you solid threes, steals, percentages, turnovers, and even blocks incredibly late in the draft. We project him at 84 and even that's lower than he's finished the last two seasons (79th in 2013-14 and 59th in 2012-13). Stop sleeping on him.
Other picks I like here are Brandon Gdula's Channing Frye (paid big money in Orlando and one of their only competent shooters), Brett Oswalt's Taj Gibson (a lock to continue his production as a perpetual Sixth Man of the Year candidate and that we project at 88), Daniel Lindsey's Mario Chalmers (underrated as an elite source of steals and decent assists that's in for a bigger year with LeBron gone and our 93rd-ranked player), Brett Weisband's Jeremy Lin (full season as a starter in Houston in 2012-13 had him as the 84th-ranked player and Steve Nash's age/nerves should allow for a repeat), and Mike Hurley's Draymond Green (may only be a bench player in Golden State, but will still quietly give you solid rebounds and a shot at one each of a three, steal, and block per contest).
Everyone else is in a fair range, although you know my thoughts on rookies like Elfrid Payton. I'll happily eat crow on that one if I end up being wrong, though.
My pick: Amir Johnson, PF/C - We all reach for a "homer" pick every now and again in fantasy sports, and I guess you could call this mine as the resident Canadian of the bunch. That said, I still believe this was a steal for Amir. His rebounds, blocks, and field goal percentage are excellent this deep in the draft and he's cracked the top 100 in value in three of the last four years. Some are afraid of Patrick Patterson displacing Amir as the starter because of his solid contributions and ability to stretch the floor, but there are no signs of that happening as of yet. Amir comes in as our 74th-ranked player for 2014-15 and that makes me feel amazing about this pick.
